Sunday, August 5, 2018

I'm not big on so-called "art" unless it's pictures of cats. Especially if they are pictures of me!! While I want to talk about some pictures of me and contrast artistic Realism as an aesthetic vs the Classical or Romantic aesthetics, I want to convince you that there are many famous pictures of cats. How I will accomplish that task is to simply show you a small sample of the large bunch of famous painters painting cats. It's kind of odd that all three of the painters that come to mind were French. But manyFrench persons wear t-shirts that say J'aime Les Chats. That's French talk that says "I'm crazy about my cat!" There's also many non-French-person books about art and cats.

Mona Lisa with her cat painted by Leonardo da Vinci

The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous pictures of all time according to experts. I'm not particularly fond of it because the lady creeps me out with how her eyes seem to always look at me. It turns out that my being creeped out was not unfounded!

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Girl sleeping with a Cat by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Renoir was French and painted all kinds of cats. He even painted cats with people who were naked. These are pretty tame compared to what a 14-year old can find on the internet now a days.

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Woman with a Cat by Edouard Manet

Here's another famous painter who painted cats. All mentions of him misspells his first name (should be Edward, right??). I don't want to make a big deal out of it because I want to talk about the juicy part of art theory and then put photos of me into the larger context.

So anyway the first appearances of the term realism was in the Mercure français du XIXe siècle in 1826, in which the word is used to describe a doctrine based not upon imitating past artistic achievements but upon the truthful and accurate depiction of the models that nature and contemporary life offer the artist. I wasn't around in 1826, so I can't vouch for that, but it seems truthy enough. The French proponents of realism were agreed in their rejection of the artificiality of both the Classicism and Romanticism of the academies and on the necessity for contemporaneity in an effective work of art. They attempted to portray the lives, appearances, problems, customs, and mores of the middle and lower classes, of the unexceptional, the ordinary, the humble, and the unadorned.

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I present the following two photos of me for discussion. Here I am looking all humble and unexceptional. Way to unexceptional for my taste. Therefore, this image isn't really art - not the classy kind anyway! I look like a bum and if you've read all my blogs, you know I'm not a ordinary cat. Ordinary cats do not have their own web site! Or their own domain name! (like huskercat.com)

Cat in a window.

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Now contrast that to this one (below), which to my mind looks pretty classy. I kept the same pose in this one. That way you can judge them without bias for your conclusion that I'm a very classy cat. Note that the viewers attention is drawn to me. There are no pointless parts of the image. Just me and I'm all framed up which emphasizes my superiority and greatness in the feline domain.

Let's face it, no "humble" cat (never met one of those, btw) would draw a viewers complete attention like I do. This is a great image. It is clear that this frame and the wall and floor, for that matter, are simply a artistic vehicle to make me look good! And that's how art works.

Cat in a frame

You can take pride in how much you've learned. You're a better person for having undertaken this chore. If you have any questions, I don't want to hear them. For the definitive book on cats in art, go buy this book! It will answer all your questions.

Monday, July 30, 2018

The good news is that I have a new friend! The bad news is that she is visiting me every day this week because my owners have abandoned me! It if wasn't for her I'm sure I would have died from starvation and probably dehydration!

Me (on the left) & Michelle

My new friends name is Michelle and I warmed up to her right away (see surveillance photos). She's keeping my water bowl loaded with the ol' H2O, purified by the City of Riverside. She's under orders to keep me inside. When I'm outside I have a 18,000 gallon water bowl available to me. It's an important part of this compound I occupy with the owners. I heard that there is an international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids. I am the first line of defense against this conspiracy - at least my yard which is quite sizable.

I couldn't hang out with Michelle all day so I had to take off and mark my territory outside.

Me and Michelle again

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Ok, readers, here's the deal. In my earlier post I detailed how Michelle was being conned into enforcing my owners demands to keep me in the house ALL week. Michelle did a fine job of making sure I had food and drink. My owners, who were on vacation in Kittyhawk, North Carolina, demanded that Michelle send a photo of me on Wednesday. As can be seen from the following photo, it's clear that I'm suffering from Cabin Fever, which is a real thing. In fact, what I want (to be let out) is exactly what the cure is for Cabin Fever. It's an insidious disease Scientists have proved that therapy for cabin fever may be as simple as getting out and interacting with nature." This is what I have demanded but, oh no, my owners demanded that I be kept indoors. Scientific research has "demonstrated that even brief interactions with nature can promote improved cognitive functioning and overall well-being." After they let me out, I will try and find a place where my overall well-being is a high priority! Stay tuned!!

Monday, July 24, 2017

I know it's weird to have a 18,000 gallon water dish, but that's how I roll. But what's even weirder is that humans love jumping in it and splashing around. I don't like to cause trouble so I just let this grossly inappropriate behavior slide. And don't take my word that it's not right. Even dogs are not supposed to swim in a water bowl (click here for disgusting story).

Anyway, the important point is that love is an important thing and, although I get lots of it, I always appreciate more. One of this weeks visitors, Savanah, was getting ready for a dip in my gigantic water bowl and I strolled by to be captured and loved up.

Savanah (left), Me (right)

This photo constitute official documentary evidence of me getting seriously loved up!! After the big squeeze, I just hung out to watch what was going on. I apologize for the lame photographer who didn't know enough to not include a lazy duck. Talk about dumb!

Friday, July 21, 2017

I have a new friend from Nebraska!! She's pictured below, next to me. As the official cat of Nebraska (which is a fact since I'm the Huskercat), new friends from Nebraska are always welcome and my most important friends.

Here I am seen hanging out with Savanah (the smiling one). She's not as old as most of my friends or the other people who visit my place so naturally she's more fun than most!!

Although I like hanging out with Savanah, I'm a cat with things to do and can't spend all day snoozing on the sofa.

So off I go for my next unscheduled activity. My destination was supposed to be private but the paparazzi snapped this photo of me. I'm a very busy cat so I need to squeeze in 16 hours of sleeping in each day so I can keep all my commitments. And Savanah is going to be one of those for this week!! The theme for this week is FUN!!

Me. Sleeping (of course). Use of this photo is granted if you link to my site and spell my name correctly.

Friday, June 24, 2016

Hello from Paris, France!! That's right, Kira took me to Paris which is in a foreign country called France. Our picture was taken by a river. For those of you who are not as worldly as Kira and me, I provide the following travel info. Paris is known for two things: 1) that tall pointy building and, of course, 2) Pepe le Pew who is in love Penelope Pussycat. The romance of Pepe and Penelope provided Paris with its reputation as the City of Lamour (which means "love" in French language). That river you see is the Seine (which, in French, means "river") and it starts at Dijon (the city where they make that fancy mustard).

You'ld think that the Home of Pepe le Peu would be a major landmark in this town, but we couldn't find it anywhere. The Parliament of Paris has been very negligent in not showcasing his home. It could put Paris on the map!

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Kira, Merrique & Me!!

We get a lot of people traffic around this place due to my popularity as the Huskercat, but it don't get any better than this! I have friends who travel from all over the country and from some places that are technically considered other countries - like France and England. But this is a big deal! Thursday, Kira arrived from Portland, Oregon via LA, to be joined by Merrique who drove in Friday morning from her secret mountain retreat nestled in the San Jacinto mountains not far from my compound. They needed to spend some time with me to recharge their cat deprivation. Kira likes loving me up since she's been away from Mufasa who had to stay in Portland.

Merrique & Me!

Merrique doesn't have a cat so I'm the cat she'd have if she had a cat. Merrique is my newest SNF (sexy new friend). But she's not a new visitor to my place. She was the last visitor of the original Huskercat (Tommy) before he passed on 6 years ago. She remembered that and told me. I had no idea. But she can come visit whenever she wants! I took over the job a month later and everyone says I've done a great job!

This is not to say that she doesn't have pets - she has snails. Or a snail. I didn't get the details. It's (they?) is/are sea snails. I don't want to question her judgment as she is my brand new friend, but having pets that people can eat seems a little questionable to me. However, it's important to be sensitive to cultural differences and she's from Paris, France. This is relevant because snails were invented in France and the people from there call them escargots (instead of just snails). I hear that everyone there eats snails. But to be honest, I'm not sure escargots is a real word. I never heard of it before now.

I have the oddest story about a snail. Some time back my owner answered his door and there's a snail at his doorstep. So the he picks up the snail and tosses it into the garden. Two years later, he hears a knock on his door. He opens the door and it's the same snail. And the snail says, "Hey what was that all about?" Anyway, that was weird. I never saw that coming! :D

Kira and Me!

So anyways, Kira and Merrique came to see me. Between the two of them, they've been to Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Scotland and England. Every one of those is a foreign country and now they're hanging out with me! How cool is that!!

Feral Huskercats!!

Help out the less fortunate husker cats!!

About ME! Liam Thomas The Huskercat

Hi! I'm Liam Thomas and this is my blog where I get to keep family, friends, and many, many fans up-to-date with my life. The original Huskercat, Tommy, passed on in June, 2010, at the old age of 18. A talented team of board certified veterinary specialists (Drs Prouix, Ogilvie, Sueda, Mallory, Mohammadian, Spela, Hoggan; Tommy's Riverside Vet, Dr Schoen, and all the Vet Techs, Jennifer, Maggie, Liz, David, Michelle, Charlene, Claudia) were able to extend his life by a couple years. He was the most famous feline Nebraska Husker fan and is missed by 1,000's (if not millions) of fans. All posts on July 2010 and before are Tommy's). They put together a memorial page for him. My feeders added "Thomas" to my name. Had they been able to change the URL for this blog it would have been Liam the Huskercat which I would have preferred (no disrespect to Tommy). Anyways, I have been called to carry on the Huskercat tradition of commenting on Nebraska Football and life in general.

Naturally you should feel privileged to read about me. And, of course, fan praise is always welcome.